first left me / I was wanting more / But you were fucking that girl next door / What you do that for?,'" and went on to say that the theme of the song is melancholy, "set against breezy beats", and while not being "an obvious TOTP contender on the surface, [it] is good but far from one of the LP's choice cuts". Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone gave a rather negative review, claiming the singer "doesn't sound as if she's trying too hard", singing the song with a "breezy sha-la-la lilt that just made the song seem even nastier". Later, he called Allen a "theoretical pop princess, who just entered the breakup-song hall of fame". Dom Passantino of Stylus Magazine suggested that "'Smile' gets burned off the lights by both Sean Paul and Abs when it comes to facsimiles of 'Uptown Top Ranking,' but neither of them could bring the quality of lyricism the singer does," while Slant Magazine reporter Sal Cinquemani was baffled as to why the song, which she "sings without a smirk of irony", is a UK chart-topper. The reviewer from NME considered that the song sashays along with sass, while still remaining charming, and said that though it doesn't mark Allen out as excellent dating material, as a soundtrack to the summer, "it’s a dead fackin’ cert". Adrien Begrand of PopMatters called "Smile" just as good as "LDN", "its loose reggae arrangement augmented by the clever sample of Jackie Mittoo’s piano from the Soul Brothers’ 60s rocksteady tune "Free Soul", as Allen sings bitterly about her ex, with just a hint of vulnerability at first, before going to her friends for reassurance, and confronting the guy during the chorus with a mean-spirited confidence that has us cheering inside". While John Murphy of MusicOMH praised the song and its "gently lilting reggae rhythm", Priya Elan from NME considered that the Althea & Donna groove of "Smile" is what made fans "fall for her in the first place". The former argued that "even people who profess to hate pop music will secretly be tapping a foot to it and claiming it is just downright perfect pop for lolling around during the lazy warm, guaranteed to cheer the listeners up, no matter how down they're feeling". Other reviews came from The Guardian reporter Sophie Heawood, who didn't consider the song as Allen's greatest effort, but still thought she